Plausible Cover Stories
by Kohi wo Nomu
Summary: Robin would never reveil his real name, Batman made the rules clear. This is how and why Wally West met Dick Grayson.
**A/N:** Whoo! So, here's the second fic in my crazy six that were written while working four months of sixty hour work weeks. Technically, it comes before Paved with Good Intentions, and you don't really have to read that one, but all my YJ stories have little details that all go together. I'm going through them now and doing some final cleaning. My hope is that they will all be posted within the next month or so. If you are interested, look out for the remaining four: Pocket Change and Pearls; Play Date; Battle Scars; and Altruism Breeds Enemies.

 **Plausible Cover Stories**

"Tell me the weaknesses of The Flash," Batman said gruffly. If he as going to allow a "speedster" in their city, even the little one, they were going to go over it again.

Robin groaned loudly, Batman could almost hear the silent whine of his name. "We went over this when Flash starting bringing KF to the hall."

Turning his glare on the boy had been useless when the kid had been nine, it was even less effective at twelve. "You can never practice enough."

Robin gave another melodramatic, pre-teenage sigh and began the list: "Energy consumption; slick surfaces, they're both clumsy as hell..."

"Language," Batman admonished, hiding his smirk.

Robin scuffed the toe of his boot on the building's roof, "You really think Scarecrow sold his stuff to someone all the way in Central?"

"That's why Kid Flash is delivering the latest victim's blood sample."

"Won't Flash get in trouble if evidence just disappears from his work?"

"He made sure there were extra, and things happen in labs all the time that can destroy or corrupt samples." A steady beep sounded from his wrist; the sensors he had placed at the city's limits alerting him to the use Speed Force.

After a moment, Robin chuckled, "Think he got lost?"

Batman tried to keep a stern face, very few ever saw Batman with anything less than a menacing glare; Clark still hadn't stopped bringing up the one time he'd let a chuckle escape. Flash and his nephew were still in awe and as Robin had confirmed, quite terrified of The Dark Knight, and he would prefer to keep it that way.

His grim expression was firmly back in place when, a moment later, Kid Flash appeared in front of them. "Whoa, sorry. Made a wrong turn at Fifty-second. Did you have to pick such a tall building?"

"I just like seeing you run up them." Robin said, "It's super cool."

The older teen puffed out his chest at the complement, but shrank back at Batman's gruff, "Do you have the vial?"

"Um, yeah," he said quickly, fumbling to pull the small vial of blood from its safe place on his wrist.

Batman took it from the boy and placed it carefully in a compartment on his own belt. "I will contact The Flash as soon as I have results." He hardly saw the boy nod as the cloudy night sky lit with Gotham's most familiar symbol. Batman was about to dismiss Kid Flash back to Central City when he caught the disappointment on Robin's face. Even with his eyes covered, the kid was terribly easy to read; he'd wanted time with his friend. "Robin," the boy straightened to attention, steeling his expression, hand already reaching for his grapple. "Stay here, I'll find out what Gordon needs."

The boy's face lit up for a moment before falling into a frown, "You sure?"

He gave a curt nod, "I'll radio if I need you."

Robin nodded once and mouthed a silent, "Thank you," before turning to his friend.

"No getting into trouble while I'm gone," Batman warned, then shot his grapple and swung toward police headquarters.

Dick smiled as Kid Flash heaved a melodramatic sigh and visibly relaxed. "He's not that scary, KF."

"He totally is, dude! He's Batman! Superman is scared of him. Just because he's your dad-"

"He's not my dad."

"So you say."

"C'mon, KF, I haven't seen you in forever. I don't want to waste time arguing about this again. I can't tell you. I know you think it's not a big deal, but it is. Trust me." The older teen was still pouting, so Robin reached into one of the pockets on his belt. "I helped Agent A make something today." Once he had discovered that Kid Flash would deliver the sample, he'd begged Alfred. "I remembered how much you liked them," he held out the cookies like a piece offering.

The red head's mouth was visibly watering, "Your mom's chocolate-craisin-oatmeal?!"

Robin sighed, "Agent A's not my mom."

The cookies were snatched out of his hand with a quick, "Whatever you say," and all except two were eaten faster than the Boy Wonder could blink. The young speedster offered one to him, but Robin shook his head. The last two were devoured just before a scream echoed from the alley below. No words were needed, both boys ran to the edge of the roof.

Kid Flash was there and gasped, "No way!" by the time Robin could see.

Dick cursed something he would never let Bruce or Alfred hear before tapping his earpiece, opening a channel to Batman. Kid Flash looked scared as Batman's voice filled his ear, "Go."

"Situation back at our location."

The Boy Wonder could hear Batman already moving. "Scarecrow has been spotted."

"Yup. I'm doing the spotting."

"Don't engage," Batman ground out, "I repeat, do not engage. I'm six minutes out."

Another scream came from below, "Too late. Civilians." Oh, he could hear his mentor gnashing his teeth. "I've got KF as backup."

He knew Bruce hated situations like this. No matter how many times they had split up and things had worked, those few times where he or Bruce had been injured always clouded their judgement. Six minutes was quite a long time when you were in a life and death kind of circumstance, but with KF, they should be able to hold off Scarecrow for that long. Besides, Bruce was pushing himself right now and would probably make it in four.

He could almost hear Bruce in his head saying, "Never count on "probably"."

He turned to his friend, "Batman is six minutes out. We need to do this ourselves."

Kid Flash gulped, "Okay."

"I'm gonna swing down and distract him. You come up from behind."

The older teen nodded.

Nothing was ever that simple.

Robin dropped right in front of the villain, a snappy comment about finding Dorothy on his lips, but Scarecrow beat him to it, "Ah! The Bat's brat. Where's your daddy?"

Robin scoffed, "Don't need him to take out losers like you!" Banter was good. It kept all the attention focused on him, so the couple who had been in the alley could escape, and KF could sneak up from behind.

Problem was, KF was fast, not quiet, and Scarecrow didn't actually need to hit you. The madman dropped his gas bomb and the older teen ran right through the miasma. He came to a screeching halt, coughing.

Well, if that wasn't just great. Robin knew just how horrible Fear Toxin could be from experience, but Kid Flash would have it worse. Robin could already see his friend succumbing to the effects, that heightened metabolism processing it quickly. Batman had made sure The Dynamic Duo carried the antidote on their belts, but Robin's smaller frame only held one dose; and he had inhaled quite a bit of the gas himself.

The choice was easy.

Kid Flash was already panicking, Robin could see it. Batman was only a few minutes out. The Boy Wonder could hold out a few minutes, the speedster couldn't. Besides, it would be easier to subdue a crazed human, albeit excellent acrobat, than it would be a meta.

Ignoring Scarecrow's taunts and escape, he knelt next to his friend, who was curled into a ball and vibrating so fast he was only a blur. "KF, dude, it's ok. I need you to breathe. Try and slow your heart. I've got the antidote, but I can't give it to you like this." Suddenly, Robin was looking at the brick wall. He hadn't blinked or anything, just one moment he was trying to calm KF, the next, there was no person there. It only took a fraction of a second to realize that Kid Flash had sped himself across the alley, his back was against the opposite wall, and he was crying in terrified little gasps.

Robin cursed again, he didn't have time for this! He was already starting to feel the effects himself, he needed to give his friend the antidote and contact Bruce before they were both insensible, "Kid Flash!" He tried for authoritative, it probably sounded terrified, "You need to slow down."

He must have said something right, because the older boy stopped looking like a haze of yellow and red. Robin pulled the small auto syringe out of its case on his belt and plunged it onto the yellow hero's shoulder. How he had moved fast enough to catch the speedster off guard, he would never know. Robin's ears barely registered the sound of KF's yelp before something slammed into his arm.

Through the pain and increasing effects of the Fear Toxin, it took him a moment to realize Kid Flash had used his super speed to bat his arm away. This was not good. At least he'd felt the click of the syringe's discharge; the antidote would already be making its way through his friend. Robin could feel his heart racing, his vision already playing tricks. He forced himself to take a steadying breath, KF's whimpers were already quieting. The older boy would sleep off the worst of it.

Robin tapped his com again. He could hear Bruce's speed from the strain and clipped words used to save breath, "Two minutes."

"Scarecrow's gone," he really hoped his voice wasn't shaking as much as the rest of him. "KF and I got hit with toxin."

"Your antidote?"

"KF...he was worse." He was panicking. Bruce wasn't going to make it. Some Boy Wonder. He'd really messed up this time. "Sorry, I-I'm...I mess-"

"Just breathe," even though it was winded, Dick knew that tone. It was that calm reassuring voice used when things were bad, but Batman knew how to fix it. "Remember the meditation techniques. Slow your heart rate. I'm coming."

The reassurance helped, but not enough. He was still shaking violently. He wasn't crying. Bruce was going to be there any moment. He'd done the right thing. He really wasn't crying.

He was hyperventilating.

Bruce had told him to breathe.

Concentrate!

He needed to calm down.

He pulled his knees close to his chest and couldn't stop himself from rocking back and forth.

Bruce was coming.

Wally's head hurt...like, a lot. In fact, his whole body hurt more than when he had recreated his uncle's experiment and turned himself into a speedster.

And whatever that beeping was really needed to stop.

He opened his eyes with a groan. There were rocks on the ceiling. And bats. He was in a cave! Crap! Had he been captured?! What had he been doing? He'd been in Gotham, delivering something to Batman for Uncle Barry. The Scarecrow! Oh, God! Gotham villains weren't like Central villains! They'd tried to really kill Robin!

Before he could start to panic, an accented voice announced, "Doctor Tompkins says to monitor him and call should his condition worsen. Ah. It would seem our young guest is awake."

An old guy in a black suit was descending a staircase seeming carved into the cave wall. Next to the stairs was the biggest computer Wally had ever seen. What the hell?

A small cry drew his attention. Behind him, Robin was laying on a gurney. Wally sped to his friend's side; the younger boy was unconscious, his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.

"Is he okay?" Wally looked over to Batman, who was seated on the other side of the gurney. The Batman who wasn't wearing his mask.

Blue.

He'd always wondered what color eyes Batman had.

Oh, God! He'd seen Batman's face! He'd thought the mask was scary enough! Those icy eyes seemed to bore into him and freeze even his thoughts.

Batman had blue eyes.

And he was vaguely familiar. Where would Wally have seen this guy before? Why would maskless Batman look familiar?

"Call your uncle."

Any small part of him that hadn't believed this guy was The Batman fled at the sound of The Voice. He must have been gaping too long because Batman growled and repeated, "I said, call your uncle."

Wally jumped at the harsh tone and it must have somehow registered to the unconscious boy because Robin started thrashing and yelling. Most of it was only half formed words, but one thing came out perfectly clear: "Bruce!"

The change that went over the face of the man across from Wally was almost unbelievable. The harsh, emotionless glare disappeared. Batman put his hand on Robin's head, smoothing back the dark hair and said gently, "It's all right, Dick. You're home, old chum. You're safe."

Bruce and Dick.

Batman and Robin's real names were Bruce and Dick.

Who the hell named their kid "Dick?!"

Robin stopped thrashing wildly, but continued to whimper and was trembling violently.

The man in the suit with the accent cleared his throat, "Pardon me, sir, but Mister Kent is calling again. This will make the third in the last forty-five minutes."

"Ignore it, Alfred," the gruff tone had returned to Batman's voice.

"I don't believe that will be possible, sir. It appears he is at the stairs."

"Bruce!" Superman's voice echoed through the cave, coming from a plain looking man in a suit with glasses.

Wally's uncle was down the stairs and at his side, using their speed while in civilian clothes. "Wally! Are you alright?!" Their family hated when they spoke at super speed, but his uncle looked crazy worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?"

"Batman said you'd been hurt, but he was taking care of it. That was three hours ago!"

Batman's fury-filled voice slowed the speedsters back to a human pace, "How dare you bring him here, Clark?!"

"Me?!" The man who was apparently Superman yelled back, "Flash calls me in a panic and says that Kid Flash was hurt in Gotham, but you won't tell him where he is?! What if it had been Dick?! Would you have just sat around, waiting?!"

Batman was seething; his uncle blurted, "Wow, the glare is so much more scary when you can see his eyes." Both speedsters shrank back as the glare turned to them. His uncle started a moment later, "Bruce...Wayne? You're Bruce Wayne?!"

The moment his uncle said it, he knew where he had seen that face. Batman was Bruce Wayne, one of the richest men in the world. No wonder Robin had always said his name was an important secret.

Batman's rage turned back to Superman, "You had no right, Clark! It wasn't your secret to tell."

"I had every right!"

A cry from Robin and the wailing of medical monitors silenced the argument. The man with the British accent turned a Batman rivaling glare at them as he calmed the unconscious boy. "May I suggest forestalling this conversation until after the young master has recovered?"

Batman didn't seem to be backing down, but didn't respond. Superman was instantly contrite and he answered, "I'm sorry, Alfred."

Batman sighed, "Take him home, Flash. Robin administered the antitoxin quickly. Kid Flash might have some especially vivid dreams, but there shouldn't be any lasting affects."

"Is it the same stuff?"

It took Wally a moment to realize they were talking about the reason he was in Gotham in the first place. "That stuff is the stuff that's killing people in Central?!" Batman said he was cured. He wasn't going to die, right?

Wally tried to not make it quite so obvious that he was trying to hide behind his uncle as Batman clenched his jaw, "I haven't ran the tests yet. I'll call you once I have."

Hadn't run the tests yet? His uncle had said they'd been there for three hours! What had he been doing that whole time?! Robin whimpered loudly again and to Wally it was like Batman forgot others were even in the cave. Oh. Rob was always going on about how Batman was all about "the mission." That nothing else mattered. Wouldn't he be surprised that Batman had wasted three whole hours doing nothing but holding his kid's hand through a nightmare?

Robin was mumbling, but it didn't really sound like English. Batman spoke quiet reassurances for a moment, and when he looked back at the others, his eyes seemed less cold, "Go home. We'll talk about this at another time."

"He'll be ok, though, right?" Wally couldn't help but ask.

"Robin will be fine."

He took one last glance around before his uncle nodded to him and they sped up the stairs and were on their way home.

It wasn't until they were halfway back to Missouri by the time it registered in Wally's head that Superman had called the British guy "Alfred." Agent A certainly wasn't Rob's mom...

It was two whole days before his communicator beeped and Robin was on the other end. Rob said he was fine and was laughing and being his normal self, like he hadn't almost died. Was Gotham really that scary where being poisoned wasn't even a big deal? Rob mostly ignored or deflected his questions, but said to watch out for something coming in the mail. The boy wonder was super excited for something that was so vague.

It was two whole weeks of checking the mailbox later, when he arrived home from school to have his mother throw her arms around him excitedly. "Oh, Wally! I'm so proud of you! I hadn't even known you'd entered!"

He opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times before his mother showed him the letter.

His science project had won him an all expenses paid ticket to the Wayne Foundation Youth Science Camp at Hudson University over spring break.

And three weeks later he was walking through one of the dorms at Hudson University, looking for room one-oh-seven. The door was already open and someone small with black short hair was sitting on one of the beds. He gaped as the other boy smiled widely, "Hi! You must be my roommate!" He held out his hand, "I'm Richard Grayson, but everyone calls me Dick."

Wally opened and closed his mouth a couple times before narrowing his eyes, "What?!"

Dick's smile fell, and he whispered, "Dude...introduce yourself."

Wally was still staring at the outstretched hand when a man in a very nice suit walked in. "Ah, there you are, Dick! Is this your roommate?"

It was totally the guy he'd seen in the cave. Bruce Wayne. Except he was smiling. It was creepier than the glare. They couldn't be the same. It had all been a crazy delusion.

"Yeah, Bruce, but he hasn't INTRODUCED himself yet."

"Oh?" This Bruce asked, the epitome of innocence.

"But...you. I..." Wally didn't know what to say, so he finally just went along, "Wally. My name is Wally."

"Wally," Bruce said, "be nice to Dick. He's younger than the rest of you, so I expect you to look out for him."

Dick playfully punched Bruce's shoulder, "C'mon, Bruce, I'm sure we won't have any trouble, right?"

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be Batman and Robin.

Bruce glanced at the door, and when he turned back, those icy eyes held the Batman glare that Wally had seen that night after the Scarecrow debacle, "No," it was Batman's voice, too! "I'm sure you won't." And then it was instantly gone again! "I'll let you boys have your week of educational fun! See you Saturday, Dick." With a wave at the door the man was gone.

"Well?!" Dick asked quietly, "What do you think?"

"About what?! What the hell is going on?!"

Dick shook his head, and continued almost at a whisper, "Do you know how much convincing it took for me to get Bruce to say yes to this?"

Wally still wasn't sure what this was, "What? This?"

"Yeah! You know," he lowered his voice further, so low Wally almost didn't catch it, "Hanging out without the masks. We needed a story on how we know each other. So, now we can call and text and stuff. Bruce said you could even come over! You liked Alfred's cookies, wait until you eat one of his dinners!"

"Wait...all of this was just so we could meet...as ourselves?!"

Dick laughed, "For a speedster, you sure are slow." He let his voice return to a conversational level then, "No more talking about that, though. Bruce made me promise. Are you ready for a science camp?"

"Dick Grayson and Wally West, huh?" Wally said aloud. "You know, I could get use to that." He finally shook Dick's hand. "But did it really have to be more school when I'm supposed to be on break?"

Dick gave the laugh Robin was so famous for, "You've got five days to memorize the rules."

"Rules?"

"Oh, yeah. What? It's HIM, you weren't expecting rules?"

"How many?"

"He didn't really number them, but I don't think it was more than a hundred and fifty."

Wally sat down heavily on his bed, "Hundread and fifty...?"

"Yeah. Oh, and yes. There will be a test."


End file.
